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Sunday, September 25, 2016

Savera

Raúl (left) and Fidel Castro in the Sierra
Maestra,1959

It was in
the twentieth century that humanity took the first steps to free itself of
class rule, ending thousands of years of oppression and exploitation. The
October Revolution in Russia in 1917 was followed by the Chinese revolution in
1949. Both were big countries, mighty empires. The defeat of their rulers by
their own people caused the whole world to sit up. The world capitalist order
was panic stricken. It launched a vicious war of attrition against the
socialist camp and tried to crush communism elsewhere in the world.

But only
a decade after the Chinese revolution, in 1959, a tiny island in the Caribbean
Sea saw another people’s upsurge, which swept aside a hated military dictatorship.
The island was Cuba, located just 90 miles from the United States. Such was the
anger and panic among the ruling capitalist classes that they swore to destroy
this new revolution before it could take roots. They feared that it would serve
as a beacon to the whole of Latin America, which was treated as its backyard by
US imperialism.

Thursday, September 15, 2016

All
social institutions that we created and experiencing operate within a
particular political environment. The values and ethics associated with these
institutions are to a larger extent being shaped and disciplined by the larger
socio-economic context in which they function. This structural relation and its
understanding will help us in critically evaluating the purpose and functioning
of these institutions. Law, being a socio-legal institution, which is identified
as objective and scientific, also operates within this larger political
context, carrying and reflecting its values and influences. Indian legal system
operates within the class and caste ridden society, which influences its
interpretation and judgement, by reinforcing the societal values over and above
the objectivity and scientific nature of legal studies. This paper will
critically evaluate the important interpretations made in three important legal
cases in India, which is significant in reflecting our regressive social values
in the higher legal institutions; The Kizhvenmani massacre in 1968 in Tamilnadu
where 44 dalits were burned alive, the Ayodhya judgement in 1986 which opened
the gates of communal politics at the national level and Bhanwari Devi case judgement in 1995 which combined
casteism and patriarchy in its interpretations. The underlying assumptions
behind the judgement and the social values associated with them will be
critically analysed rather than dwelling deep into the judgement and its legal
merits.

Sunday, September 4, 2016

Government
legislations and policies have introduced significant changes in the
participation of women in the labour markets over recent decades. However, substantial
gender differences in formal sector employment remain a stark reality even
today. Notwithstanding the differences in the nature of work, system of
payment, working conditions and working hours, and wage gap between men and
women, much of the differences also stem from the gendered division of parental
responsibilities at home, with women being entrusted with the primary
responsibility of child-care. Much of the gender gap is also reflected in
social policies that were originally created with the assumed bias of treating
men as the breadwinners and women as homemakers. Despite sincere efforts at
policy level to eradicate this bias, government programs continue to mirror the
same. The proposed Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 is a case in point.

Editorial

How do we see the world? It is neither a gaze, nor is it to invent the predetermined truth, it is to intervene from a position. Our seeing is changing at the same time and without any claim to excavate the unadulterated truth that never existed.
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